Lagging for cable drum



Feb. 3, 1910 (GEES m; 1 3,493,105

- LAGGING FOR CABLE DRUM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 17, 196":

INVENT FRANKLIN H. s KENNETH W.HAMMEL BY 7% m ATTORNEY Feb. 3, 1970 NFHGREB ETAL 3,493,105

LAGGYING FOR CABLE DRUM Filed Aug. 17, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORSFRANKLIN H. GREB KENNETH W- HAMMEL ATTORNEY United States Patent O3,493,105 LAGGING FOR CABLE DRUM Franklin H. Greb, Waukesha, and KennethW. Hammel,

Hales Corners, Wis., assignors to Bucyrus-Erie Company, South Milwaukee,Wis., a corporation of Delaware Filed Aug. 17, 1967, Ser. No. 661,448lint. Cl. B65b 55/00, 75/02; 365d 85/04, 85/66 U.S. Cl. 206-59 5 ClaimsABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The end flanges of a cable drum are providedwith facing continuous circular grooves which define the ends of anenlarged cylindrical lagging shell; and one quadrant of the rim of oneflange is cut away outwardly of the inner wall of the groove to exposethe groove and define an access opening thereto. The lagging shell ismade up of four quadri-cylindrical segments which are inserted orremoved in serial fashion by bringing them to the access opening. Onemaster segment has a large corner notch at which there is a cable guide,and also has a smaller notch at the diagonally opposite corner. Thissegment is inserted last to remain at the access opening, and it can bereversed end for end depending on how the cable is wound on the drum. Aclosure in the form of a curved rim sector is removably attached to thecut away end flange to reestablish the missing rim quadrant and has acut away inner edge which re-establishes the continuity of the groove.The rim sector carries a lug which fits in either notch of the mastersegment to lock the lagging shell against rotation.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to cable drums, forexample on excavating machines; and more particularly to a lagging shellfor such a drum which in effect provides an enlarged core to increasethe speed at which cable is picked up or paid out for a given drumspeed.

It is often desirable in excavating machines and other applications tobe able to increase the speed at which cable is picked up or paid out bya cable drum, this sort of flexibility being especially desirable intruck mounted cranes and other machines which are expected to be able towork in a variety of environments. It is conventional to accomplish thedesired result by providing a removable lagging core or shell which islarger than and concentric with the core of the cable drum.

It is important that such lagging shells be of sufiicient size andmechanical strength for use with large cables and heavy loads, but it isalso important for the lagging shell to be attachable and removable byone or two men; and these conflicting objectives cannot be attained withpreviously known lagging arrangements. In the case of extremely largemachines having large cable drums, for example, it might be necessarywith previously devised lagging constructions to have another craneavailable simply to hoist the parts of the lagging shell as it is beingattached and removed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention contemplates a cylindricallagging shell, preferably of substantially continuous nature, made up ofa desired number of segments which are supported in grooves in the endflanges of the drum and which may easily be inserted or removed inserial fashion by means of an access opening formed by cutting away atleast a portion of the rim of at least one end flange to expose thegroove. There is preferably one master segment which allows for passageof the cable and which can be reversed so that the cable can be fed olfthe drum in either direction. A

3,493,105 Patented Feb. 3, 1970 preferred closure means serves to lockthe shell against rotation and also serves to reestablish the missingflange rim portion and the continuity of the groove. The construction ofthe invention is extremely strong so that it is adaptable for use withlarge drums and heavy cables, yet the several shell segments can behandled, inserted and removed by only one or two men without undueeffort.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a partially exploded,somewhat schematic view in perspective illustrating a cable drumincluding a lagging shell formed according to this invention,

FIG. 2 is a side view, with parts shown broken away and in crosssection, of the drum shown in FIG. 1, but with the exploded elements ofFIG. 1 shown in place, and

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view in cross section through the plane 3-3shown in FIG. 1, also with the exploded elements shown in place.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The cable drum shown in thedrawing is specifically intended for use on a truck mounted crane, butit will obviously be usable in a wide variety of other environments. Itis of generally conventional overall configuration, including a free endflange 1 and a relatively wider end flange 2 which houses drive elements(not shown); and a cable 3 is suitably anchored and wound on a centralcylindrical core 4. The particular dlrum construction and the specificarrangement used to drive the drum are not crucial to the invention, andvarious constructions and arrangements are well known to those skilledin the art so that they need not be shown or described in detail herein.

The facing inner surfaces of the end flanges 1 and 2 are provided withcontinuous facing circular grooves 5 which have a rectangular crosssection and which are of the same size and concentric with and largerthan the drum core 4. The grooves 5 are spaced radially inwardly fromthe peripheries of the flanges 1 and 2 so that there are rims of theflanges 1 and 2 outwardly of the grooves 5. Approximately a quadrant ofthe rim of the free end flange 1 is cut away outwardly of the radiallyinnermost wall of the groove 5 to expose the groove 5 and define anaccess opening 6 (the outer portion of the flange 1 is actually outslightly deeper than the groove wall to provide relief and insure properseating, but this does not affect the basic structure or operation andwill be disregarded herein).

The grooves 5 define the ends of a cylindrical lagging shell which isconcentric with and larger than the core 4. The shell itself is made upof four curved metal plates 7 which constitute quadricylindricalsegments of the shell. The ends of the plates 7 are received andsupported in the grooves 5 and when all four plates 7 are in place theyform a substantially continuous shell, there being only minimalclearance between the facing edges of the plates 7. This continuousconstruction gives the resulting shell substantial mechanical strengthso that it may be used with heavy cables and loads.

One shell segment, which is indicated by the reference numeral 7 and canbe referred to as a master segment, is provided with a large cornernotch 8 at the inner edge of which there is a curved cable guide 9. Whenthe segment 7' is in place, the cable 3 passes through the notch 8 andabout the guide 9, the latter serving to prevent kinking or abrasion. Inthe diametrically opposite corner of the segment 7 from the notch 8 is asecond, somewhat smaller, corner notch 10.

The segments 7 are inserted by putting one end in the groove 5 oppositethe access opening 6 and laying the other end down in the access opening6, and then sliding the segment 7 in either direction to place it in thegrooves 5. They are removed by sliding them back to the access opening 6and reversing these steps. The cable 3 is simply held to one side or theother as this is being accomplished.

The master segment 7' is inserted last, and as indicated the notch 8provides an opening for the cable 3 to pass through. The segment 7' maybe reversed end for end so that the cable 3 can be led out from eitherend of the drum, depending on how it is wound. This reversibilityprovides important flexibility of operation, allowing the sameconstruction to be used in a variety of environments.

When all of the segments 7, including the master segment 7, are inplace, it is desirable from the standpoints of mechanical strength andeffective operation to reestablish the continuity of the groove and ofthe rim of the flange 1, and it is also desirable to lock the shell as awhole against rotation with respect to the drum. These objectives areaccomplished in the preferred embodiment by means of a closure in theform of a curved rim sector 11 which corresponds to the cut away rimportion of the flange 1. The closure or sector 11 is provided With endtabs 12 which overlay the adjacent rim portions, and bolts 13 are usedto removably fix the sector 11 in place whereupon it closes the opening6 and re-establishes the continuity of the flange 1.

The lower inner edge of the closure 11 is cut away at 14, this cut awayportion 14- being of the same dimensions as the groove 5 so that whenthe sector 11 is in place it also re-establishes the continuity of thegroove 5 in the flange 1. The cut away portion 14 stops short of one endof the sector 11, the right end as seen in FIG. 1, and thisconfiguration defines an elongated lug 15 which is adapted to bereceived in either of the notches 8 or 10. When the lug 15 is in eithernotch 8 or it is engageable with either the master segment 7 or theadjacent segment 7 to hold the shell as a whole against rotationrelative to the drum in either direction. If the segment 7 is in theorientation showed in the drawings herein, the lug will be received inthe notch 8, there still being suflicient room for the lug 15 outwardlyof the guide 9 as can be seen in FIG. 2. If the segment 7 is reversedend for end, however, the lug 15 will be received in the notch 10.

In the embodiment shown, the rim sector 11 is of a particularlysatisfactory laminated construction, being made up of an outer plate 16and an inner plate 17. The plates 16, 17 are welded or otherwisefastened together with the inner edge of the inner plate 17 outwardlyoffset from the inner edge of the outer plate 16 a distance equal to thewidth of the groove 5. The width of the plate 17 is made equal to thedepth of the groove 5, and as can be seen in FIG. 3, it is the plate 17which forms the radially outermost groove wall which is against thesegment 7. An inwardly extending portion of the inner edge of the innerplate 17 serves to define the lug 15. Using this laminated constructionprovides both the cut away edge 14 and the lug 15 with an absoluteminimum of intricate machining. Forming the sector 11 by machining orcasting is, however, possible.

When the lagging shell is in place, it of course functions as the drumcore and the cable 3 is picked up and paid out in the usual manner. Itwill be obvious that enough of the cable 3 for the desired purpose willbe paid out before the shell is attached, leaving only any excess on thecore 4.

The construction shown provides a lagging shell which has greatmechanical strength because the shell is continuous and because the endsof the shell are fully supported in continuous grooves. It is especiallysuitable for large cable drums because of this mechanical strength andbecause the shell is divided into segments each of which is light enoughto be handled by one or two men.

Although a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown anddescribed herein, it will be apparent that modifications might be madeWithout departure from the scope of the invention. Although four shellsegments are shown, for example, the same basic construction could beprovided using less or more segments, it being necessary only that therebe a number of cylindrical segments, preferably of equal size, and anaccess opening of sufficient angular extent to admit the largestsegment.

Further, the grooves 5 need not necessarily be formed by cutting theminto the facing flange surfaces as shown. It would be possible, forexample, simply to recess the entire area of each of the facing flangesurfaces outwardly of the desired location of the inner walls of thegrooves to a depth equal to the desired depths of the grooves. Thiswould result in circular steps or ledges on the facing flange surfaceswhich would define the inner walls of the grooves, and the floors of thegrooves would be defined by the recessed surfaces immediately adjacentthereto. The outer walls could then be established by fastening one ormore curved plates like the plate 17 to the recessed flange surfaces ata suitable distance outwardly of the steps.

Similarly, the access opening need not be formed by cutting away a rimportion entirely. With the stepped construction of the precedingparagraph, for example, one of the curved plates, of suitable angularextent, could, like the closure 11, be removed to expose the groove anddefine an access opening and replaced to close the opening andre-establish the groove. Alternatively, to avoid clearance problemsfacing plates on both flanges could be removed and the shell segmentscould then be lowered straight into place as opposed to inserting oneend first. This approach could be combined with the approach of thepreferred embodiment by forming the equivalent of the outer plate 16integrally with the flange 1 and having only a plate equivalent to theplate 17 as an insertable and removable sector or closure (acorresponding configuration might then be provided for the oppositeflange 2). This could be done by casting the flanges as integral unitswith suitable recesses or by machining the recesses later.

Other forms of closures could also be substituted. One or more tabsadapted to overhang the segment 7' could, for example, be substitutedfor the plate 17 or its equivalents and serve effectively the desiredprimary purpose of closing otf the access opening.

What is claimed is:

1. In a cable drum having a. core and end flanges, the combinationcomprising: facing continuous circular grooves in the end flanges, thegrooves being spaced radially outwardly of the core and radiallyinwardly of the peripheries of the flanges; at least a portion of therim of one flange being cut away radially outwardly of the associatedgroove to expose a portion of the groove and define an access opening; acylindrical lagging shell comprising a plurality of curved segmentswhich together define a substantially continuous cylindrical shell, theends of the segments being slidably received in the grooves, the angularextent of the access opening being sufficient to receive the individualsegments so that the segments can be inserted and removed in serialfashion by being brought to the access opening; and a closure adapted tobe removably attached to said flange to close the access opening, saidclosure comprising a rim sector with a curved edge which re-establishesthe continuity of the groove.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein there is a master segment providedwith a notch through which a cable wound on the core may be fed, whichnotch is adapted to be adjacent the access opening when the mastersegment is in place; and wherein the closure carries a lug adapted to bereceived in the notch to lock the lagging shell against rotationrelative to the drum.

3. The combination of claim 2 wherein there is a second notch in themaster segment, the two notches being at diametrically opposite corners;and wherein the master segment is adapted to be reversed end for endwith the lug adapted to be received in either notch.

4. The combination of claim 1 wherein the rim of said one flange isentirely cut away outwardly of the inner wall of the groove for theentire angular extent of the access opening; and wherein the rim sectorcorresponds to the cut away rim portion to re-establish the continuityof the flange and has a cut away inner edge to re-establish 5 thecontinuity of the groove.

5. The combination of claim 4 wherein the rim sector is made up of innerand outer plates, the inner lamination being of a thickness equal to thedepth of the groove and having its inner edge outwardly offset from theinner edge of the outer plate a distance equal to the width of thegroove to define a continuation of the groove; and

wherein the inner lamination has an inwardly extending portion whichdefines the lug.

References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS 23,773 of 1901 Great Britain. 493,65810/1938 Great Britain.

GEORGE F. MAUTZ, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 242-77.4

